The development of fluorous photolithographic materials and their applications to achieve flexible organic electronic devices

Fluorous materials are receiving significant attention as photolithographic materials that can be used in photolithographic fabrication processes, in particular in organic electronic devices, due to their material advantages such as orthogonality to most organic materials, non-flammability and low toxicity. Compared with conventional photolithographic materials, which generally cause chemical damage to organic materials in devices, fluorous materials can be used to construct micro-scale patterned device architecture on organic electronic devices without physical and electrical damage due to their advantageous properties. Fluorous material developments have improved fluorous solvents and imaging materials for successful photolithographic processes to achieve micro-scale resolution in organic device production. Recent studies have demonstrated the application of orthogonal photolithography by using fluorous photolithographic materials in the fields of organic transistors, circuits, memories and light-emitting diodes. This article reviews the development of fluorous photolithographic materials and their application to organic electronic devices. The material properties and device architecture characteristics that require further improvement are also discussed.